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Post by Bee on Feb 26, 2008 14:26:25 GMT -5
 Mnem probably didn't spend quite enough time at the Courts as a Jack probably should. Her plants and poisons and business lay elsewhere, and then there had been the matter of the brats: the twice-cursed products that were the result of her own womb's hideous betrayal and Shinrai's apparently mutant sperm, and Minh's clearly sociopathic little boy. She ran errands when called upon, and was usually thankful for the escape. Now, she thought, she needed to make her absence from the apartment a little bit more permanent. She didn't have the patience to deal with more offpsring (damn Minh, damn alcohol, damn the world), and she figured it was high time she got out, before she went completely loopy. She had heard most excellent things about the Queen, as well. And he was suitable for Kelasia to pursue so single-mindedly. Mnem was not a follower of any sort by nature, but she felt more than content to make this instance the exception. So she made her way through the lovely slate palace. She had requested the audience some time ago, and now she was finally getting it. She smoothed her skirt, told the hair to bloody well behave itself, and knocked firmly on the door. |
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 26, 2008 14:45:20 GMT -5
 Theofilus looked down at his ledger. Oh right, he had an appointment today. He had heard very little about this woman beyond that she was from Yarrow Gardens and that Kelasia had mentioned her once or twice in passing. It had been a while since he was left completely in the dark. He shrugged. It's not like something like this could be a disaster. He stood up and fiddle with the teapot. It was still difficult getting used to a lack of depth perception. He was just waiting to trip up every now and again. Learning how to fly was still hell, not to mention dancing and half the other things he did for fun. On the bright side he had mastered the ability of pouring and drinking tea once again. He set down a teacup at the edge of his desk for the woman to have, if she was a tea drinker. The sparrow returned to his seat with his tea and flipped through a few more pages of some paper work he should be doing. After setting his cup down, he was happily interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in," he said clearly with a happy note in his voice. |
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Post by Bee on Feb 27, 2008 3:30:37 GMT -5
Mnem walked through the door, and first thing that caught her eye was tea. Half the time, when she saw a cup, her brain was flooded with terrible flashbacks of Iphis having tea parties with dolls and cakes and Elyse and anyone else he could snare with his girlish charm, chattering happily for hours. Which also made her think of Shinrai, and a different kind of tea entirely. She bit back a laugh.
This tea looked harmless. Adult. Her eyes went up to Theofilus. He looked...affable. The whole scene looked quite comfortable, in fact. She tried to will herself to relax.
She inclined her head politely. "Good day," she said, stepping farther into the room. "I don't think we've been quite formally introduced. I'm Mnemosyne. Thank you for seeing me." Her eyes slipped back to the tea. It seemed to be for her. She wondered, fleetingly, about what variety it was. "Would you mind terribly if I had a cup?"
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 27, 2008 3:51:47 GMT -5
"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Mnemosyne," Theofilus said with a cordial smile. He honestly would have gotten up if he wasn't afraid of falling flat on his face. He would never quite get used to his lack of depth perception, though he really hoped he would be able to fly again someday. That however, was for another time.
"Please do have a cup and sit down," he motioned generally to the cup and the chair. He laced his fingers together and waited for her to make herself at home before continuing. This was going to be a rather straight forward session of question and answer. He wasn't going to send her off to do anything when he didn't know a bit about her character.
"So, out of curiosity. Why would you want to become one of my Kings?" Theofilus asked as he unlaced his fingers to take a sip of his tea. She was a very interesting looking woman. Interesting taste in clothing, interesting hair, and she had very nice manners. How would she respond to that question though. Would she be just as interesting?
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Post by Bee on Feb 27, 2008 13:36:13 GMT -5
Mnem had a few sips of the tea as she took a moment to mull over the question and the phrasing of her answer. The hair discreetly grabbed a small spoon and added a bit of sugar.
"I thought it was a good time to make a few changes in life in order to avoid sinking into a pit of crippling madness from which is it impossible to crawl--" And possible infanticide, but that was neither here nor there, really. By the time she made it back to the apartment, she would no doubt find it blown to pieces by one of Minh's experiments, or the little brat would have been incarcerated in infant-prison for theft.
"--and by all accounts, you're a gentleman and a scholar, and I feel that we could work well together." She smiled into her tea, thinking of old ventures. "I'm also firmly convinced of my own ability to be useful."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 27, 2008 14:13:46 GMT -5
He was taken completely off guard when her hair grabbed a spoon for the sugar. Theofilus raised an eyebrow, but remained silent until she was finished explaining. It was a good of a reason as any.
"Well then, let's get started?" Theofilus smiled as he shut one of his note books. "Since you're very confident of your skills, I would like for you to explain them in detail. I'm afraid I know absolutely nothing about you, like what you do besides a few miscellaneous errands. If you have some sort of specialty in any area, it would be easier to give you duties that suit your personality and abilities."
He took his opportunity to drink more of his tea. He simply had to ask her about her hair later. How on earth could it move on its own like that? The sparrow set his tea down carefully so he could properly listen to her response without getting distracted.
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Post by Bee on Feb 27, 2008 19:13:51 GMT -5
She tapped her fingers on the rim of the teacup. She might as well put her strengths out there, even if they were a bit odd, and as a Queen, Theofilus was probably accustomed to such things. She hoped he wasn't put off.
She smiled widely. "The Gardens have some...interesting plants. I was very captivated by them at a young age, and studiously steered my career toward botany. I've been making remedies and salves and such my entire life, but my real inclination is to poison. Not everything is necessarily fatal...there are some sleep aids, some that induce cataplexy, that sort of thing. Most useful, I find."
Especially when the irritants in her house really needed nap-time. She tapped the cup again. "I could slip a dozen different things in here. And most of the time I can get people to drink them without much effort."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 27, 2008 20:37:45 GMT -5
He had heard quite a bit about the gardens being filled with all sorts of poisons. It was yet another wonderful excuse not to go anywhere near the region, but he never really thought about how people could apply such a thing. What a wonderful turn of events.
"Oh really?" Theofilus said with a cheery note in his voice. Those were skills that he could find uses for perhaps. If not, he could at least get a kick out of how many different poisons could be slipped into teas. "Well those skills certainly sound useful."
"In a hypothetical situation, one of my Kings has fallen ill. The current court doctor can't determine the source of the illness besides that it's "unnatural". So, the duty falls to you to help or find someone to help your fellow King. How would you analyze the situation and solve it as quickly as possible using the skills and connections you possess?" Theofilus said before taking another sip of his tea. It was an open ended question for a reason. He just wanted to see how creative she could be.
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Post by Bee on Feb 28, 2008 0:49:24 GMT -5
Mnem polished off the tea, and set the cup back down on the saucer. "From a glance," she said, thoughtfully, "one can usually narrow a poison down to a smaller list of possible culprits. Some of them present rashes, others cause a distinct irregular heartbeat. Too many of them cause nausea and diarrhea, so that's not much of an indicator. If we're lucky, it will be so 'unnatural' that the symptoms would be fairly unique and more easily identifiable. If I were here on a more...permanent basis, I would likely relocate my own garden and tools and thus have more things on hand to retrieve."
She shifted slightly. "If nothing could be determined straight away, there are certain injections to keep the bodily and nervous systems functioning well enough for a small span of time. Enough to run some tests. If it's so unnatural that the doctor doesn't know what it is, I would be willing to wager it was a deliberate poisoning. I would send all trusted and capable underlings and companions on the hunt. Anyone caught could be...persuaded to give up the necessary information."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 28, 2008 1:35:49 GMT -5
"That's more than I expected, Congratulations," Theofilus said as he carefully stood up. He leaned forward and waved his hand across the mark on her chest, changing it into a bright red K. "You can consider yourself one of my Kings."
He offered her his hand. "I do have one more question for you though. You don't have to answer it, it's just idle curiosity," he cleared his throat before speaking. "How exactly does your hair move on it's own like that? I saw it pick up a spoon to put sugar in your tea and.... well I think that's just a little too interesting not to ask about."
Containing his utter joy was difficult in the face of curiosity. However, he remembered himself before continuing. "Oh yes, you can have more tea if you like, especially if you're going to explain your hair in detail."
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